The power of Google Analytics

Google Analytics is such a powerful tool to use - it actually allows you to decide what you want to measure on your website. You can literally put this tool to work for you and personalize it as well. You can define your ideal objective, goals as well as specifics.

If all you want to know is who visited your website and how they got there - that is simple enough and you can do that. However, the power of Google Analytics lay in the ability to define goals and put on filters that will allow you to do in-depth analysis of your website.

What do I mean?

Let me break it down for you so you know how to use Google Analytics and have the biggest advantage. First of all, Google works with objectives, goals, and specifics, these allow you to really hone in on what you are trying to accomplish when managing your website.

Objectives: An objective is the big picture – what do you want your website to do? What is the purpose for your website what do you want visitors to do once they are there.

If you are an e-commerce site your objective is to sell products and make a profit. Using Google Analytics, you can actually see the products that are selling and what products are not - helping you to pull the product that is not selling or market it in a different way. This of course will translate into big profits for your business.

Goals: If objectives are the result you ultimately want to achieve with your website, a goal is a short term aim.

What has to happen for you to learn which products sell and which don't? Or perhaps your goal is to sell 30 more widgets within 6 months. You can do this using Google analytics as the tool and setting goals within the application.

Specifics: Now that you have outlined your objectives and goals you are ready to use Google to your advantage. Specifics are the “how” the action steps you will take to reach what you really want.

Example: You would set up the sales page and a funnel (using Google Analytics) to measure how traffic comes in to your sales page. Google can tell you where visitors are entering as well as what page your visitors are exiting from. Knowing how your visitors are responding to your website allows you to go to these pages and tweak them so you can get the results you want.

Google has made it easy to place the code in your web pages, they do the initial metrics for you and the best thing is it is free.If you are not particularly savvy on html or how to apply the code have your web developer apply it to every page. You can even generate .pdf to analyze the month by month statistics.

Once the code is embedded in your web pages, Google will start collecting data and within a few days you will see countless stats related to your site. Then it is time for you to become familiar with the dashboard that Google provides - you will be able to set up the goals and specifics of your website.

You access all the data through the Internet so you can login and set parameters right then and there.

Another great function of Google Analytics is that you can set up different profiles for one website. You can put different code on different websites of course, but you can also break down one website into different profiles and monitor them independently, or you can use the different profiles to see which sections of your website are effective and which are not.

AdWords and Analytics Google

AdWords is a pay-per-click advertising program. Essentially you would buy keywords and then pay them for every time a potential client (website visitor) clicks on an ad you put up through Google. You also have the option to pay for impressions - that means everytime your ad loads on a page.

If you are thinking about using AdWords as part of your marketing campaign or are using them already Google works seamlessly in providing you with the answer to that all important questions, Is this ad working, am I making more money then I am spending? You can see if the visitor who clicked on the ad (you just paid for) bought something, or they clicked away from your website without purchasing the product you are selling.

You will be able to see where your visitors entered the site and where they leave it. When you sign up for Google and AdWords us the same account number (Google uses Gmail as the login and password) you can link both accounts together. AdWords will be imported into your Google Analytics Account. This provides you with a safety net so you can watch the behavior or you visitors and change what isn't working.

The development team at Google has a way of making their tools very usable and Google Analytics is just one of many tools that live up to these high standards.

I am amazed that everyone doesn't use this tool, if you need help in placing analytics on your pages email me or give me a call.

Pamela Jacob - Artista Design 801-910-4825

Providing Creative Solutions & Amazing Results

Are You Getting What You Pay For?

As I was finishing up a clients site – I started thinking about all the small details that had to be done and put into place before I could consider the web site complete.

A lot of businesses that hire web designers/developers really have no clue as to what makes a web site – an outstanding marketing tool. In fact, some web site designers have no clue (because of the lack of experience and/or knowledge) what needs to be in place for the “complete package”.

I have seen it time and time again, – so I thought I would take this thought and put together what you should expect, from a professional web designer.

I am sure you are aware of the standard things you want when your website is being developed such as:

• A great looking and customer pleasing interface.

• Graphics that are optimized. This will allow your website to load fast in any computer browser.

• Copy/text that is professional and conveys what you are going to do for your customer – and why they should come to you, for the service or product you are offering.
• Navigation that is straight forward and direct so that visitors can find whatever they are looking for in 3 clicks or less.
• A opt in-box (auto responder) so you can capture the information from visitors that come to your site and are interested in what you have to offer.

What are some of the things you may not be aware of –, or that you didn’t realize your web professional can or should do for you?

• Each page of your site should have its own unique title.

• Keywords should be placed in the copy/text of the page and reflected in the meta-tags. I have my clients send me the keywords they want to place and do a little research to see if those are the keywords that should be used, or if I can find something better but similar.

• Have no more than 10 great keywords in your meta tags This is according to Hub Spot a leader in SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

• Make sure some type of analytics is available for your website. I always put Google analytics on each web page so that my clients can see a broad spectrum of what visitors are coming to their site, where they are coming from, what percentages are from search engines or back links etc. The information you can collect while using Google analytics is invaluable and can help you tweak your marketing.

• Create a site map not only an html site map but an xml site map. It is so important – the search engines love site maps and so will your visitors when they want to find something fast.

A web site is much more than a brochure online – of course you can have that if you would like, but you will miss so many opportunities to market to your target audience –, and I am sure your competition will love you for it!

Some other things to think about – if you are not familiar with Internet jargon – (a lot of successful business owners are not), don’t be afraid to talk to your web site developer about hosting, domain names, and how to market your web site online.

You should also be able to count on recommendations about services and product that will enhance you targeted goals and/or can be used in conjunction with your online marketing such as web 2.0 sites, auto responder, what you need in a host, etc.

You should be able to have an open dialogue with the professional that is building your online business, without feeling stupid, or that you are being condescended to – if not – how professional are they??

Until Next Time -

Pamela Jacob - Artista Design

Check some of my sites! http://linkbun.ch/6ymj

Why I Do What I Do

Initially I envisioned this blog to be a series of articles about what you need to design an attractive website, market it, optimize it etc. It has become so much more than that. A client or potential client will email me and ask me a question, or I read something that sparks a view/reaction in my mind and I write about it. This information is something that is invaluable to you my reader – this type of pertinent information you may not be able to find so easily in a structured article. This type of information gives you the nuances that make a business successful… I am telling you this because so many times people don't start blogs because they genuinely assume they have nothing to say – well if you have nothing to say then I suggest you don't even start your business until you understand it fully. And once you understand your product/service then you will have tons to say on the matter. Blog's are powerful connections for your business. In developing this blog I truly found out why blogs are so powerful when promoting business. It gives you credibility – it allows people to see you are who you say you are. It is true that you need more than a blog to be successful. You need to ping your blog – you need to submit to blog directories, and most of all you need to know what you are blogging about!! Search engines love blogs because it gives them new fresh material all the time and that is so important when trying to stay on the top of search engine listings. As I always say there is so much to know and then so much more… That is the one thing, I love about my business – I am here to help businesses detangle and understand what they need to have a successful online business… Helping clients and watching them grow gives me so much satisfaction – it is why I do what I do.. Pamela Jacob